Date: 04-21-2010

Case Style: Eric Von Tiergen a/k/a Eric Thomas v. Phyllis Ray Lyons

Case Number: CJ-2008-3586

Judge: Jefferson D. Sellers

Court: District Court, Tulsa County, Oklahoma and Gerald Lovoi, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Plaintiff's Attorney: Cecil Drummond, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Defendant's Attorney: Julia Allen, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Description: Eric Von Tiergen a/k/a Eric Thomas a/k/a Baron Eric Von Tiergen sued Phyllis Ray Lyons on a breach of oral contract theory claiming that he loaned her $229,000. Plaintiff claimed that he loaned Phyllis Lyons a lot of money to fund litigation between her and her husband including money paid to Defendant's divorce law Don Williams to get her file so that she could hire Dan Graves to represent her in obtaining a divorce from her husband. He claimed that he only deals in cash.

Plaintiff claimed that he had no records of any of the transactions. That he operated a diving business in the Cayman Island and that all of his business was done on a handshake and that he had no bank statements or other proof that the money at he loaned Defendant was not a gift other than his word.

Defendant claimed that much of the money was not a loan but a gift. She claimed however, and one of her lawyers confirmed that Eric Von Tiergen, who also referred to himself as "Baron Eric Von Tiergen," said that his pledge to pay him for his legal services provides to "My precious Mariann" was a gift. She did sign "IOUs" for $20,000 but the IOU was paid off. She claimed that their relationship became more than just business and that Plaintiff started just giving her money.

Outcome: Plaintiff's verdict for $95,000.00.

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

Comments: Editor's Note: One of the jurors that served on this jury provided a number of interesting observations about her experience in serving on the jury:

1. The jurors tried to follow the instructions of Judge Sellers.
2. All of the juries agreed that Defendant owed Plaintiff something.
3. None of them thought that every party was credible.
4. The deliberation in the jury room was all about amount.
5. The verdict was 9-3 with the three now wanting to award Plaintiff $95,000.00. 6. The jurors referred to the parties as "Marianne and the Skipper."
7. Judge Sellers was viewed positively by the jury. 8. The Foreman was a CPA with oil and gas accounting experience.
9. Two of the male jurors had issues about the way that they were treated in their divorces and Defendant's fight with her husband over the division of the marital assets.
10. One of the jurors had difficulty judging the credibility of the witnesses and wanted the jury to decide the issues.
11. The jury started deliberating at 3:30 p.m. or so and some of them wanted to go home at 5 p.m.
12. The verdict was returned at about 5:30 p.m.
13. The juror found the process of serving on a civil jury very different from a previous jury service experience involving a criminal matter but very interesting. 14. The juror also said that Judge Kuehn treated the jury pole very courteously during the process of being introduced and screened for service on cases called for trial.